Substructure - Part One: Getting Organized

A Case for Streamlining
Look at this screenshot (graciously donated from my girlfriend's desktop). Is it easy to understand where everything is? Imagine this is your desktop. You might know where everything from repetition, but anyone else will be assaulted with a mish-mash of indecipherable random files, shortcuts and folders. If you're anything like me and have to keep track of a ton of projects and programs, there's a chance that a standard-approach desktop like this isn't sufficient at all. What happens when you run out of space? How do you back everything up when it's strewn all around your hard drive? I'm a big fan of aggregating as many files as possible to a central location primarily because I install and test a ton of programs only to get rid of them in a matter of days, which clogs up my system to the point where I need to reinstall XP twice a year. On my primary computer, I have a secondary hard drive which holds all of my data files from all projects, documents, downloaded media, music, etc. Each set of files has its own category, which comes in handy with backups and locating files quickly. If you're working on a single-hard drive, you may want to make a subfolder on your C:\ drive with your name.

Just Three Clicks
Out-of-the-box, XP doesn't have much going for it in terms of functionality if you use a large amount of programs on a semi-frequent basis and have a great deal of folders and files to keep track of. It is very easy to clutter any system if you don't have some kind of organizational system firmly in place. I have been working towards an approach of finding anything I need in "Just Three Clicks" or less - which is a bit more helpful at work, where I have to use and have quick access many templates, custom spreadsheets for pricing, and so on. Figure out what programs and files you need the most - then make them as accessible as possible (through whichever means you want - I'll go over a few options in the following posts).

The Basics
First: download this .zip file, and unzip the contents to your C:\ drive or your secondary hard drive:

Pimp My dTop - Root Folder System

Start moving files over and adding organizational folders as you need them - the main folders are pretty self-explanatory, but still need a little going-over:

Customization - This is where we're going to be putting anything we use to customize our system from this point - Icons, Wallpapers, and any skins you want should go here.
Documents - Word Documents, spreadsheets and notes should go here
Download - This is your staging area for anything you download - set all programs to use this as the primary download location, and make sure you sort everything as soon as you verify it's not broken.
Music - This one's optional if you prefer to have iTunes handle your file management, but I personally can't stand how iTunes goes overboard with folders/subfolders if you have a lot of albums from one artist. There are two subdirectories - Full Albums and Singles.
Photos - This can be subdivided any way you like - I tend to group photos into chronological events, like "2003 Zoo Trip" etc.
Program Backup - Like I mentioned before - I usually need to wipe my hard drive and reinstall Windows twice a year. Keeping track of all the installation cd's for programs and hardware is a royal pain, so I keep all of the installation programs I need in an easily-accessible group to make re-installation much quicker. You could burn these to a CD or DVD if it has enough room, but I prefer to keep them in a non-permanent location so I can update as neede.

This is the most basic of setups that should cover most people's needs for computer organization - play around with the settings as they make sense to you.

Next Time:
We'll start messing around with XP to make your new folder structure more accessible, while keeping your desktop clean.